Those viral "wildfire" videos from Japan's mountains? Not smoke — pollen, tied to decades of forest policy that's proving hard to reverse. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2026/03/23/earth-science/hay-fever-tokyo-pollen/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #environment #earthscience #pollen #hayfever #health #allergy #tokyo #chichibu #okutama

Back down in #Okutama (iirc).

#MtOdake #Japan #hiking #trailrunning #35mm #Olympus #OlympusXA #KodakGold200 #filmPhotography

Some pretty rock cairns on the way back down.

#Okutama #MtOdake #Japan #hiking #trailrunning #35mm #Olympus #OlympusXA #KodakGold200 #filmPhotography

The summit of Mt. Odake. Realization of the day: Hiking a Japanese trail can involve a surprising amount of climbing! 😅

#Okutama #MtOdake #Japan #hiking #trailrunning #35mm #Olympus #OlympusXA #KodakGold200 #filmPhotography

As much as I like #Tokyo, it was about time to escape into #nature. 😌

#Okutama #MtOdake #Japan #hiking #trailrunning #35mm #Olympus #OlympusXA #KodakGold200 #filmPhotography

Frame zero of a new roll of "mountain film".

#Okutama #MtOdake #Japan #hiking #trailrunning #35mm #Olympus #OlympusXA #KodakGold200 #filmPhotography

A bit of harder #hiking (the uphills) / #trailrunning (the rest) near the end of the trip (16.2km / 1610m elevation gain). With many kilometers/day already in the legs, this probably wasn't the cleverestest of ideas. 😅

#Okutama #MtOdake #Japan #35mm #Olympus #OlympusXA #KodakGold200 #filmPhotography

#silentsunday #okutama

Back to doing some more #watecolor from a pic of my favorite house along the Mukashi-michi in #Okutama.

Camp 8: We left #Okutama with the intention of checking out the lake but I figured at the last minute we had enough time for some more mountains so we headed up #KazahariPass - another amazing climb on smooth, smooth tarmac in the evening with only a few motorcycle hoons for company. Camped at the summit 1150m :), awoke terrified of bears in night when clattering sounds but there were none 🤣